A federal judge in New York on Friday blocked the Trump administration from revoking temporary legal protections next week for Yemeni migrants. The decision offered the migrants a fragile victory as the government seeks to end pathways for people fleeing humanitarian crises.
In a strongly worded opinion, Judge Dale E. Ho of Federal District Court in Manhattan said that the government had ignored the law when it tried to deport people who had been rigorously vetted in order to receive Temporary Protected Status. The decades-old humanitarian program allows people fleeing crises in their home countries to live and work in the United States.
“T.P.S. holders from Yemen are not ‘killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies,’” Judge Ho wrote in the decision. “They are ordinary, law-abiding people who have been granted status to be here because the government has repeatedly determined, in accordance with the T.P.S. statute, that Yemen is subject to an ongoing armed conflict, and that, due to that conflict, requiring them to return would pose a serious threat to their safety.”
In March, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund and the Center for Constitutional Rights sued the U.S. government on behalf of seven Yemeni nationals after Kristi Noem, then the homeland security secretary, announced Yemen’s removal from the T.P.S. program.
The plaintiffs argued that Yemen’s removal violated the Administrative Procedure Act, which requires the executive branch to follow certain steps when it wants to change policies. The statute requires the homeland security secretary to consult “appropriate agencies” regarding conditions in other countries before ending T.P.S. designations.
Judge Ho wrote in his decision that the review process has typically taken several months and involved recommendations by officials at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the State Department.
Officials with the Department of Homeland Security defended the agency’s attempt to revoke the legal status of the Yemeni migrants.
“T.P.S. was designed to be temporary, and this administration is returning T.P.S. to its original, temporary intent,” the officials said in a statement. “We are prioritizing our national security interests and putting America first.”
The Supreme Court is expected to rule by late June in two cases involving similar deportation protections for Haitians and Syrians. That decision is expected to have implications for other legal challenges from people with temporary protections, including the Yemeni nationals.
The Department of Homeland Security designated Yemen for the T.P.S. program in 2015 after conflict erupted between Houthi rebels, an Iran-backed militia, and Saudi Arabia, which backs Yemen’s government.
Razeen Zaman, a lawyer at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, which represented the seven plaintiffs, said that Judge Ho’s decision spared thousands of people who would face unsafe conditions by returning to Yemen. One plaintiff is a 50-year-old human rights worker in Brooklyn who left Yemen because he was threatened for protesting the recruitment of child soldiers by Houthi rebels. Seven of the man’s colleagues in Yemen were jailed or killed for similar work.
“The termination would have been devastating,” Ms. Zaman said. “We’re talking about over 3,000 people who would have lost their lawful status, their work authorization, their protection from detention and deportation.”
Nada Alareqi, a T.P.S. holder from Yemen who is not directly represented in the lawsuit, said that she was relieved after fearing she would lose the life she had built in the United States.
“It’s a chance to breathe for now,” she said.
Ms. Alareqi, 33, left Yemen in 2012. She likened the termination of her T.P.S. protections to a “death sentence.”
“The Houthi regime there is absolutely aggressive toward especially females,” she said. “I can’t imagine going back.”
Judge Ho granted the plaintiffs’ request to keep their T.P.S. protections until the Trump administration completed the appropriate review process.
“At least we know that we are not going to be deported at this time,” Ms. Alareqi said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen next.”
Ann E. Marimow contributed reporting.
Ana Ley is a Times reporter covering immigration in New York City.
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